Mississippi Freedom Summer: In 1964, the Council of Federated Organizations along with members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) met to discuss increasing voter registration for African-Americans. Many members believed that Freedom Summer should be only blacks but others disagreed saying that if they were to include whites, it could “increase media coverage and assure federal protection for civil rights workers." This plan was lacking certain details in safety. Before the campaign even began, white people were harassing and killing African Americans. During Freedom Summer, one African American student and two white students were killed near Philadelphia, Mississippi by white people. By the end of the summer, three more were killed, 80 were beaten, 35 shot and there were 30 churches burned along with 30 buildings bombed. Although many were killed and wounded, Freedom Summer did register African American voters, established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which challenged the all-white delegation, and exposed the unjust discrimination of African-Americans. 1The purpose of Freedom Summer was to recruit African Americans to register to vote for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. "On the 21st, three organizers, all under age 25, disappear while investigating a church burning. The bodies of James Chaney, a black Mississippian, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two white Northerners, will be found buried together on August 4th. In a presidential election year, the MFDP sends its own racially inclusive delegation to the Democratic National Convention, challenging the segregated delegation sent by the state's established Democrats." 2
This image shows Andrew Goodman, 21, (dark t-shirt) at a voting rights training session at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, in mid-June, 1964, just days before he was killed on June 21, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner following their release from jail.
Voter registration of Southern African Americans, 1964
In 1964, the Council of Federated Organizations along with members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) met to discuss increasing voter registration for African-Americans. Many members believed that Freedom Summer should be only blacks but others disagreed saying that if they were to include whites, it could “increase media coverage and assure federal protection for civil rights workers." This plan was lacking certain details in safety. Before the campaign even began, white people were harassing and killing African Americans. During Freedom Summer, one African American student and two white students were killed near Philadelphia, Mississippi by white people. By the end of the summer, three more were killed, 80 were beaten, 35 shot and there were 30 churches burned along with 30 buildings bombed. Although many were killed and wounded, Freedom Summer did register African American voters, established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which challenged the all-white delegation, and exposed the unjust discrimination of African-Americans. 1The purpose of Freedom Summer was to recruit African Americans to register to vote for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. "On the 21st, three organizers, all under age 25, disappear while investigating a church burning. The bodies of James Chaney, a black Mississippian, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two white Northerners, will be found buried together on August 4th. In a presidential election year, the MFDP sends its own racially inclusive delegation to the Democratic National Convention, challenging the segregated delegation sent by the state's established Democrats." 2